Slang used in Hip-Hop Music
Hip-hop music uses a varied accumulation of slang terms that have changed as hip-hop itself has evolved and changed. Much of its lexicon is drawn from African American Vernacular English. Hip-Hop music slang makes use of alternative pronunctiations (mostly drawn from AAVE); ordinary words given new meanings; new coinages and portmanteau words; as well as vernacular phrases. The slang used in a hip-hop record can often date it to a certain era and/or school of hip-hop.
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Changed meaning
All words under this section will be found with the same spelling in the average English dictionary, but they usually won't have these meanings listed. No phrases under this section. All words must also be used in a released Hip-Hop record in the sense listed.
- bail - v.- leave- "Let's bail."--'Let's leave'/'Let's go'. Common slang, meaning basically the same as in "Let's bail out" (common English usage).
- bent - adj.- intoxicated
- biscuit - n.- gun, pistol
- bitch - n.- besides the usual meanings, "My Bitch" can simply mean "my girl." When applied to males, it is an insult meaning 'coward, sissy, punk', etc. ("You's a bitch").
- blunt - n.- a cigar used as a joint, filled with marijuana instead of tobacco.
- blunted - adj.- same meaning as 'stoned', but specifically the intoxication from smoking a blunt or blunts (plural of blunt).
- boo -n.- affectionate term for one's significant other
- bounce - v.- leave, go- "Let's bounce."--'Let's leave/go'.
- bug - adj.- "He's acting bug." Acting weird, unorthodox, upset, etc.
- buggin'- v.- "Why you buggin'?" Why are you acting upset, or weird, etc.
- bumpin'- adj.- cool, pleasurable, to one's liking- "That shit is bumpin'." Also as a verb, "It's bumpin'."---meaning, the beat of the music is bumping in a pleasurable manner.
- bust -v.- perform, do. "Bust a rhyme."--'Say a rhyme.' "Bust a move."--'Make a move/perform a move.'
- busted -adj.- ugly; "Nigga, yo' girl is BUSTED!".
- cap - n.- bullet
- capped -tr.v.- shot. "He got capped in the knee"--"He got shot in the knee".
- cheese - n.- money
- chill - v.- relax, keep cool
- chill - adj.- relaxed, alright. "He's chill."---meaning, "He's alright/relaxed."
- chillin' - v.- relaxing
- coolin' - v.- relaxing
- crab -n.-
- crib -n.- place of residence
- dime - n.- a very attractive woman; a "ten" on a scale of one-to-ten.
- dip - v.- leave. "Let's dip."--'Let's go.' "I'm a dip if I see one-time pop up."
- dog (also dogg) -n.- 1. a close & trusted friend.
- dope - adj.- cool, appealing, etc.
- down - adj.- 'I'm down to do it' meaning 'I'm up for it'. 'I'm down' meaning 'I'm up for it' or alternatively, 'I'm hardcore'. 'That fool thinks he's down...' meaning 'that guy thinks he's hardcore'.
- fat - adj.- cool, appealing, and so on. When spelled (outside of the music), it is almost always intentionally spelled 'phat'.
- flow - v.- to rap; can also be used as a noun, " ...listen to my flow."
- fly - adj.- cool, appealing, etc.
- folk - n.- friends, acquaintances
- game - n.- knowledge, skill, expertise, knack, mack-skills, techniques, etc. "He got game."--He has the technique, the skill, the knack, the pull.
- ghost - to leave, leave quietly, quickly. "He got ghost."--He left quickly. "It's time to get ghost."---It's time to evacuate from the scene.
- hate - v.- aside from its usual meaning, has different shades of meaning such as "criticizing", or "disrupting" someone's game. "Why you gotta hate on me?"
- hating (hatin') - v.- same meaning as 'hate' (see above). "Why you hatin' on a nigga?"
- heat - n.- any type of firearm
- heat - n.- police, FBI, law enforcement in general (used also in the film, Heat).
- herb - n.- marijuana
- hood - n.- neighborhood
- ice -usually as a plural noun- diamonds. "That nigga got a lot of ice on his wrist."--meaning, 'That guy is wearing a multi-diamond-studded bracelet'.
- ill -adj.- 1. cool, appealing, far-out ("That's ill.") 2. crazy, rowdy ("Act ill").
- jet- to leave, to leave quickly- "C'mon, let's jet."
- iron -n.- firearm
- kickin'- adj.- appealing; "Those rims are kickin'."
- murk (also mirk) -v.- leave. "I'm finna murk. PEACE."
- murk (also mirk) -v.- murder, kill. "Pass me the strap, I'm 'bout to murk this foo."
- piece -n.- firearm
- player (playa)- n.- 1. Someone who knows how to manipulate women (towards sex,etc.). 2. Someone who knows how to manipulate things in general. 3. Someone who cheats on his girlfriend or wife (or if a woman: boyfriend, husband). 4. Less correctly applied to a 'baller' (see 'baller').
- punk - n.- 'a coward'; alternatively, 'an asshole' (not anatomical reference);
- punk- 'Don't punk out on me', i.e., don't get cowardly
- punked- intimidated; 'he got punked by that fool', he got intimidated/bullied by that person.
- pussy- n.- a coward, a sissy. Used as a put-down usually against males.
- scratch- n.- money
- shorty- n.- a girl; a woman; a child; a young man
- spit- v.- "He can spit."--meaning, "He can rap." Less often used as a noun.
- steel -n.- firearm
- straight- adj.- 'fine', 'okay'- Example: A person asks "You want some Henny?", the other person replies "No. I'm straight."---meaning, "No. I'm fine."
- strapped -adj.- bearing a firearm
- tight- adj.- cool, high-quality, appealing
- toaster -n.- firearm
- trippin'-v.- high on drugs, or being crazy; "You must be trippin'"
- tweak -n.-
- tweaking -v.-
- whip -n.- car, automobile
New coinages & Portmanteaux
Under this section, neither these forms or these meanings will be found in the average dictionary, but these words are used in Hip-hop music. No phrases under this section either, but compound words included. Though used and popularized by M.C.'s, most of these words were not coined by any M.C., they were taken from local street slang.
- baby mamma -n.-
- baller -n.- a high-roller, a money-maker. Hence also the verb ballin' ('balling'), which refers to someone who is doing very well for himself, livin' it up, in terms of money, etc.
- bling-bling -n.- see article for definition and origin of term.
- crunk -adj.- having a good time; or 'high and drunk at the same time'. Reportedly derives from 'crazy' and 'drunk' being combined (='crunk') or from 'crazy' and 'funk' being combined. Doesn't date back to the 1980's, and is a somewhat recent term in hip-hop music, used especially by Southern rappers.
- def -adj.- cool, appealing, fly, ill. Said to be abbreviated from definitive. Used often by M.C.'s in the mid to late 1980's. Not used by M.C.'s anymore unless they are being intentionally 'old school'. Also not used in general slang anymore, though still used in some circles.
- dimepiece -n.-same meaning as dime, i.e., a very attractive woman, a ten on a one-to-ten scale.
- diss (or dis)-v.- to criticize someone, disrespect someone. "He dissed that bitch."
- gank -v.- steal
- ganked -tr.v.- robbed; swindled "He got ganked."--'He got robbed.'
- gat -n.- a gun; less generally, an automatic firearm, especially a machine gun. The term is originally an abbreviation of Gatling gun.
- ghettobird -n.- police helicopter
- hella -adv.- very. Formed from hell + of. Common slang, not used much by M.C.'s anymore.
- homeboy
- homie (or homey)
- hoodrat -n.- neighborhood girl with loose morals; neighborhood slut
- Jakes -pl. n.- police officers. Used especially by New York M.C.'s.
- one-time -n.- police.
- peeps -n.-
- player-hater (playa-hata) -n.- Specifically, one who hates a playa/player (see above); generally, one who hates someone who is doing well. They say "hater" instead of the full term to this present day
- popo -n.- police. The 'po-' in 'police' was duplicated (po-po), the rest of the word dropped.
- scrilla -n.- money- Used especially by West coast M.C.'s (Mack 10, E-40, etc.).
- tweaker -n.-
- wack -adj.- awful, cheap, stupid, weak, etc. Usually spelled 'wack' when spelled, rarely spelled 'whack'.
- pig - police officer
- T's - police car
Frankie Smith Slang
Usually the ending of a word is removed, and replaced with the -izzle suffix as a substitute, much like Pig Latin. This particular style was originated by Frankie Smith with his 1982 nonsense single "The Double-Dutch Bus". Rapper Snoop Dogg has popularized this form of slang from when he used it on Dr. Dre's The Chronic album in 1992. In other cases, -izz- is added in the middle of a word (house>hizzouse).
- bizzle - bitch
- fizzle - can be female, fuck, flatulate or any number of words starting with F
- gizzle - gay
- hizouse - house
- hizzle(1) - house
- hizzle(2) - hook, as in "Off the hook"
- nizzle - nigga
- rizzle - real
- shiznit - shit (usually in a general positive sense); used especially in the phrase "Tha Shiznit!"
- shizzle - sure
- tizzle - tizzy, a state of agitation or nervousness.
Brand Names and Commercial Trademarks
- Benz/Benzo - Short for Mercedes-Benz, known for luxury automobiles.
- Beamer - BMW car.
- Cad- a Cadillac.
- Caddy - a Cadillac car.
- Cristal - Roederer Cristal, a brand of champagne
- Dom P. - Dom Perignon, a brand of champagne
- Henny, Hen - Hennessy, a brand of cognac
- 'Lac- a Cadillac.
- Lex - Short for Lexus, a brand of luxury automobiles, also short for 'Rolex' a brand of luxury watches.
- Moe - Moët et Chandon, a brand of champagne
- Timbs - Timberland boots
- Rolly or Rolley - Another term for Rolex, as used in Snoop Dogg's 2004 hit "Drop It Like It's Hot".
- dub - a twenty dollar bag (also refers to twenty inch rims)
- hydro - indoor grown marijuana
- nick, nickel, nickelbag, nickelsack - five dollar "bag" of illicit drugs
- buddha, shwag, mota, bud, dodo, green, fire, smoke, chronic, doja, ganja, dank, sticky icky, indo, - marijuana
- dime, dimebag, dimesack - ten dollar "bag" of illicit drugs
Gang terms
- BG - Baby Gangsta, one who is a gangsta but never shot anyone, or a guy who hasn't got his own car.
- bluh- n.- Slurred pronunciation of 'Blood'. Generally means 'friend', 'homie'; specifically can mean, 'fellow Bloods member'. Usually used in phrases such as "What up bluh?", meaning 'What's up Blood'. Has passed from gang use to occasional Hip-Hop music use and more general slang use.
- crab - Derogatory term towards a Crip gangster; though among New York artists & some other artists it does not refer to or derive from Crips.
- cuzz - Crip
- G- a gangsta
- gangsta - member of a street gang
- OG - Original Gangster, one who has shot someone before
- loc (pronounced loke ) - a term describing the level of gangster That nigga is loced out gangsta
- slob - Derogatory term towards a Blood gangster
Synonyms for Types of Guns
- 9-mm handgun - nine, nina, Nina Ross
- .22_caliber gun - Deuce Deuce, Scooby-Doo (used by Cypress Hill, etc.).
- 40-caliber gun - 4 pounda
- 44-caliber gun - 44, Fo' Fo'
- 45-caliber gun - Fo'Five
- Desert Eagle - Desert Eaze
- AR-15 - AR
- AK-47 - AK
- Mac-10- Mac
- shotgun - pump, shotty
- TEC-DC9 - Tec, Tec-9
Numbers
- 187 - Homicide
- 24/7 - all day hustle
- 411 - information, from the telephone directory service in the US
- 420 - Number-Code for Marijuana.
- 5-0 - In reference to the police (as in the television show Hawaii Five-O) or the 5 liter Ford Mustang
- 730 - the code for crazy
- 808 - In reference to the Roland TR-808 drum machine.
Phrases
- bum rush-
- bust a cap- shoot a gun
- bust a move- make a move, perform a move. Popularized by Young M.C.'s hit single, "Bust a move" (1989).
- bust out- to leave, to exit. "He busted out of the club."
- bust out- to show or bring out something- "He busted out a fat dubsack from his coat pocket."
- clap iron- shoot a firearm
- coolin' it- relaxing
- da bomb - the bomb, i.e. cool, appealing, or popular
- da shiznit- cool, appealing, etc. (also tha shiznit, the shiznit). Popularized by Snoop Dogg.
- fo shizzle my nizzle - for sure (my nigga). Popularized by Snoop Dogg.
- kickin' it - relaxing
- my bad - my mistake
- off the chain-unbelievable, outrageous, wild, etc.
- off the hook- unbelievable, outrageous, wild, etc.
- open up shop- to sell drugs, establish a drug-selling spot; also has more general meanings
- peace out - good bye
- rise up, foo - "bring it on." I am prepared to fight.
- roll out- to leave. Specifically, to get in your ride (car, etc.) and leave the scene.
- spit game/spittin' game- to spit (speak) game. See the definition of game above (though no complete definition is possible).
- what's goin' down? - what are we doing tonight ? teach a lesson, to win a confrontation
- what tha dilly yo? - what is going on?. This phrase is not used by M.C.'s much.
- what up? - hello, how are you?
- wigity-wack- adj.- very wack, rubbish (up to the present day, the "wigity" is dropped and now use just "wack")
- word up - got that straight, that's right or how's it going
- o fo sure - thanks, no probablem
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